SU assistant Joseph puts energy into camp

By Joseph Schiefelbein, Advocate sportswriter

The one getting the entire Southern offensive unit to bounce up and down before team-on-team drills is running backs coach Elvis Joseph.

The perfect touch. Just what practice needed after two hours in the heat: a jolt of infectious enthusiasm to pick up the offense for one final push.

“I love it,” Joseph said. “I have fun every day.

“We’re having fun. You can’t play football without fun. You have to have fun in practice, and when those lights come on, you still have to have fun out there. You work hard and you have fun while you’re doing it.”

Joseph, a graduate assistant who is finishing his degree in criminal justice this semester, is in his first year as a coach — he just started in the spring — but he sure looks like a natural.

A former running back at Southern and Louisiana-Lafayette before playing with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Joseph may be just the jolt the Southern running game — so moribund as last season began and with barely any Southwestern Athletic Conference-tested rushers entering this season — needs.

Transfers Kendrick Smith, a junior who starred at Patterson High and Coffeyville Community College; Larry Thomas, a graduate student who just finished at Southern Miss last month; and Alvin Fosselman, a powerful junior fullback from Southwest Community College will help.

But the results of having Joseph on staff already are obvious in the change in senior tailback Darren Coates and junior H-back/fullback/tight end Evan Alexander. Each has a transformed body from the way they worked during the summer conditioning, and a stronger running style.

“He brings a different energy,” Alexander said. “I guess the word is ‘swagger.’ He brings that to the running backs, the whole offense as a unit.”

“He’s making a big difference,” Southern head coach Pete Richardson said.

It’s not all fun and games. Joseph can deliver a good bite when he needs to as well. The constant to how Joseph handles his group, however, is keeping the pace uptempo.

“He’s got a lot of fire to him, and that’s what it’s going to take, especially with the younger individuals,” Richardson said.

Who knew this would be the kind of coach Joseph would be?

“He didn’t really say that much,” Richardson said. “He’s different as a coach than a player. A lot of that came from going to the NFL and learning assignments, and understanding what it takes.”
Photo: Advocate staff photo by Liz Condo
Southern running backs coach Elvis Joseph directs drills during practice Thursday.

Joseph has seen football from many angles, playing for Billy North at John Ehret High in Marrero, then for the two college programs and then for the Jaguars. He said he still keeps tabs with his Jaguars running backs coach Jerald Ingram, now in that capacity with the New York Jets.

“I’ve been around it all my life. I’ve been around some pretty good coaches,” Joseph said. “My years playing got me prepared for this situation. And being around this staff helped me a lot. They’re making my transition much easier.”

Joseph is so key, because Richardson and staff have made a commitment to making the ground game a factor again.

“We tried to establish our running game in the spring. I thought we did a good job of that,” Richardson said. “We’re starting to extend that aspect of it.

“We have to make an attempt to run the football. That’s the mental toughness you have to put in the football team.”

Last season’s stats don’t offer much insight into what’s currently in SU’s backfield.

Quarterback Bryant Lee (302 yards, five touchdowns) is the team’s top returning rusher. As for running backs, Coates had 119 yards and one TD, getting most of his yardage and the score in the Bayou Classic. Sophomore Brian Threat had 69 yards on 32 carries. And senior Chad Harris had one carry for minus-9 yards.

However, the top three — Coates, Smith and Thomas — look, at least in practice, to be one of the better, deeper groups Southern has had.

“They’re getting it,” Joseph said. “I’m not too concerned if one goes down. They all come to play. (Coates) worked really hard this summer, and it’s showing. You get out what you put in.”

And there’s the added factor of Fosselman, an anvil the likes of whom SU didn’t have last year.

“That’s a big boy, and he’s not scared to hit you. Tough,” Joseph said.

Joseph likes what he’s got.

“We’re still working. They’ve made some strides from the spring,” Joseph said. “It’s a good stable of backs. They’re looking forward to learning and getting better. By the time we get to week one, we’ll have a good group, ready to get in there and make it happen.

“These guys are hungry. You can see it in their eyes. They’re ready to make some big plays. We feel real confident with the group we have right now.”